gardening, self-sufficiency, homesteading, food preserves diary
Blog documenting progress in transforming new property (50 acres - mostly wooded) into garden-farmette . Trying to become more self-sufficient and more self-aware.
I finally succumbed to my desires to get into the 3D printer world after seeing some youtube videos from my hero, "TUBALCAIN", aka mrpete222. He showed that a 3D printer could produce actually useful components without wasting half of your life screwing around with settings and fiddly crap. I went ahead and bought the printer model that he was using from a company called "bangGood" (yeah - it really sounds like a porn site doesn't it?). It shipped straight from China and tooks weeks to arrive. However, it arrived in good shape and I had it assembled and printing within an hour! Very impressed.
Out of the box
Yay! It turned on!
They give you a small roll of PLA (poly-lactic acid) filament to play with
I put down some masking tape like material that came with the machine
Starting the first print!
It's working!
My first print worked! It was a gcode file they provided on the SD mini card that came with the machine
Here's my first print of a useful part. I found this lever on thingiverse.com
It came sized for a 5mm bolt head, but I scaled it to fit a 3/8" bolt head.
The bolt heads fit perfectly, but I had to drill the shaft/hole out with a drill. I also found the file for the knob on the left on thingiverse. Using these now on my new belt-grinder!
A trip through a magical crystal forest on the way to the farm
Wow! On the trip to the farm I stopped at the South-mountain rest-stop and found a wonderland of ice on the trees and grass! The colors and sparkles were amazing in the bright sunshine. The photos really can't do justice.
Actually, most of the woods all the way up until Hancock looked very similar. Was a nice trip!
Belt-grinder first run!
I finally got to wiring up the VFD and the motor so that I could run the belt-grinder. It works! Even with the alignment issues it didn't take me long to get it running good enough to use for my grinding needs for the rest of the project!
YouTube video of the first run!
A Beautiful sunrise!
I got up early the next day to find this sunrise greeting me!
Belt-grinder table holder
Now that the belt-grinder is working, it's time to make a table holder for it! I just continued following Jeremy Schmidt's plans. I had an inspiration while working on this: why not try to use the scrap from my bad tube welds to make this table holder tubes? Well, I tried it and it worked! I saved a bunch of metal and fell pretty good about coming up with the idea!
Cutting a piece of the tragic first-tube-weld scrap to use in the table holder build!
While overdone, the welds definitely had good penetration! LOL
I split the old tube in half to allow placing shim in between the pieces for the extra space needed for the table holder part.
After the tack-welds - yay! It works!
Worked so well I decided to use more of the scrap old tube to make the table holder proper
Here's a closeup of the adjustable part of the table holder after using the belt-grinder to grind down the welds!
Nice!
After tack welding the table-holder proper
After completing the weld of the table-holder proper
I added the set screw as indicated
Unlike the directions though, I went ahead and tapped through the weld area. No problems!
The table holder all welded up and the table shank in the table holder.
I had some of this 1.5" square bar still left, so I just ground the edges off and used it for the table shank.
The table
Next, to make a table! I just decided to use whatever scrap I had left from the build to-date. I had to weld a piece of 2" 3/8" plate to the 5" 3/8" plate that I had to get a nice size table. I didn't want excessive warpage so I clamped the bejeezus out if this thing!
It welded nicely. I had to tack it first of course, I missed taking pictures of that.
And there it is! Turned out to be only slightly warped. I was able to flatten it fairly good with the grinder itself!
Table in place!
Whew! A good weekend's worth of work!
Here's a video documenting the table holder and table build:
I even have some steel leftover! The bar in the lower left was an incorrect purchase. It's 1 3/8" square. But I didn't return because you never know when you will need something like that!
I finished the "power unit" and went ahead and started on the platen assembly. I completed all but the very last of the platen portion of the build - the actual platen. When I was looking at the wheels on the grinder I noticed that there where alignment issues that may impact the alignment of the platen itself, so i decided to wait until I had the wheel all aligned before finishing the platen.
Power unit complete
Motor installed and the tracking wheel all set!
I need to put a handle on the tracking wheel-tensioner handle
I used an piece of an old garage door spring as my tensioning spring. Not sure its going to be enough. Can't really tell until I get a sanding belt on there.
Platen assembly (and front wheels)
I had enough metal left over (thanks to my mistake with the first tubes) to make the platen! In fact, I think I may have enough to make a table too - but we will see.
Templates glued to metal ready to drill some holes.
But, of course, I needed to make another channel to hold the platen on the bar
I must be getting good at this! LOL
Alignment issues
I got the platen completed (except for the actual platen) and attached the front wheels. I noticed that the wheels were askew - out of alignment with the tracking and drive wheels - about 1-2 degrees! Somehow, when i was welding the front wheel bracket on it must have been at an angle. I checked it ALL of the other ways - except the way that it ended up off! Sigh. I was looking in the directions and it may be possible to correct this - but I am not convinced. I will have to wait until I have some of the sanding belts (I had them shipped to the city house - they are waiting for me there!) to get the alignment issues straightened out. Also, I need some hardware - mostly bolts for the the wheels and some adjustment bolts and washers. We had a snow event followed by rain/ice that kept me away from the local hardware store. I picked up what I needed at the TSC in Mcconnellsburg PA on the way home.
The alignment is not far enough off that you can actually see it in a picture, not from this scale anyway. But its easily off enough to throw a belt off!
You can almost see it here. That front wheel is at an angle...
